Kong: The Animated Series

Kong: The Animated Series Air date September 9, 2000 - March 26, 2001 Producer(s) BKN International, M6 Metropole Television, Philippine Animation Studio, Inc., Ellipseanime Distributor BKN International Channel(s) BKN (original run), Fox Kids, Jetix, TeletoonCA Genre(s) Animated series Episodes 40 Rate this series! 2.67 (6 votes)

Kong: The Animated Series is a French-American animated series based on the character King Kong and co-produced by BKN International, M6 Metropole Television, Philippine Animation Studio, Inc., and Ellipseanime. It follows young Jason Jenkins, whose grandmother Dr. Lorna Jenkins created a clone of the monster King Kong following his death after falling from the Empire State Building using a combination of the DNA of both Kong himself and Jason. Jason and his friend Eric Tannenbaum IV travel to Kong Island, where Lorna has taken up residence with the Kong clone. When the evil Dr. Ramone De La Porta steals the technology of the Cyber-Link and attempts to exploit the powerful Primal Stones located on the island, Jason, Eric, Lorna, and the native girl Lua must work with Kong to stop him. The series ran from September 9, 2000 to March 26, 2001, consisting of two seasons of 20 episodes each. It later received two tie-in films, Kong: King of Atlantis and Kong: Return to the Jungle, in 2005 and 2006, respectively.

Plot

With King Kong perishing after falling from the Empire State Building, a scientist named Dr. Lorna Jenkins took DNA samples from Kong and combined it with the DNA of her grandson Jason to create a clone of Kong. One day, a group of bandits appear at her lab and demand that she tell them the location of the Primal Stones. After Kong and Jason hear their grandmother's cries for help, they arrive and defeated the bandits. One of the bandits attempts to reach for a gun, but accidentally dips his hand in acid and causes a chemical fire. Jason, Kong and Dr. Jenkins escape, while the bandit vanishes in the fire. Dr. Jenkins realizes that Kong isn't safe anymore and takes him to Kong Island. Years later, Dr. Jenkins sends an email to Jason inviting him to Kong Island.

Jason decides to bring his friend Eric "Tan" Tannenbaum with him. Their university professor, Ramone De La Porta, asks to come along, and Jason sends an email to his grandmother to ask her if it is okay. De La Porta intercepts his message and tampers with the email, inviting himself to the island with Jason and Tan without anyone's knowledge. After crash-landing, the three are chased by a Tyrannosaurus rex and split up. The T-Rex continues to pursue them, eventually running into Kong, who fights the T-Rex and forces it to flee. They meet Lua, a girl native to the island, who takes them to Dr. Jenkins' lab. Upon arrival, Kong is aggressive towards Ramone for unknown reasons. Kong eventually leaves and Jason and Tan chase after him. Ramone then reveals to Dr. Jenkins that he was one of the bandits that attacked her lab years ago.

After learning about this, she sends a message to Jason and Kong without his knowledge. After De La Porta takes the Cyber-Link and a couple of samples, Lua returns and orders Chondor to attack him. De La Porta then uses the Cyber-Link to merge with Chondor and become a sabre-toothed cat-like beast. After a short scuffle, Jason merges with Kong and becomes Mega-Kong, successfully defeating De La Porta. De La Porta later kidnaps Dr. Jenkins and forces her to tell him the location of the Primal Stones. After learning of her disappearance, Jason, Lua and Tan go and look for her. They help Dr. Jenkins escape, but Ramone merges with a bear and attacks them. Kong arrives to help Dr. Jenkins and fights De La Porta at the top of a waterfall. During the battle, De La Porta is seemingly knocked over the waterfall to his death.

However, De La Porta survives the fall and finds the location of the Primal Stones. Upon taking them, he triggers multiple disasters on the island. After Kong regains the memories of the original Kong, he finds the location of the Primal Stones, where he fights a giant snake before De La Porta merges with it. After a short scuffle, part of the temple collapses, burying Kong and De La Porta in rubble. De La Porta escapes and hops into the plane Jason and Tan used to get to the island. Jason jumps onto the plane and fights De La Porta. Before getting knocked out of the plane, Jason grabs some of the Primal Stones and is then caught by Kong. They learn that the Primal Stones not only contain individual powers, but were also used as seals to keep the demon Chiros from escaping the island.

By using the Cyber-Link, Jason now has to merge with Kong and work alongside his friends and his grandmother to reclaim the Primal Stones from De La Porta and his followers while fighting Chiros' forces.

Appearances

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Characters and monsters

• King Kong
  • Kong clone
  • Original Kong (photograph and flashbacks)
• Tyrannosaurus rex
• Pteranodon
  • Soarah
• Stegosaurus
• Jason Jenkins
• Eric Tannenbaum IV
• Dr. Lorna Jenkins
• Lua
• Chondar
• Ramone De La Porta
  • Omar
  • Frazetti
  • Giggles
  • Tiger Lucy
  • Rajeev
  • Wu-Chan
• Chiros
  • Harpy
  • Onimous
  • ApBats
• Rakhir
• Andre
• "Howling Jack" Crockett
• Alternate Universe Onimous / Red Onimous ("The Renewal")
• Ancient Atlantean Kong ("The Thirteenth Stone")
• Apatosaurs / Brontosaurs ("The Return, Part 1")
• Badkat ("The Return, Part 1")
• The Beast that Battered Bakersfield ("Howling Jack")
• Berserk Plant Life ("Green Fear")
• Billy ("Billy")
• Cyber-Link Mutants
  • Cat Burglar / Cyber-Cat ("The Giant Claw Robberies")
  • Cave Snake / Cyber-Snake ("Primal Power")
  • Cyber-Ant Eater ("Master of Souls")
  • Cyber-Coyotes ("Sir James Alexander’s Legacy")
  • Cyber-Cockatoo ("Green Fear")
  • Cyber-Crocodile ("The Sleeping City")
  • Cyber-Dog ("Cobra God")
  • Cyber-Eagle ("DNA Land")
  • Cyber-Fennec Fox ("DNA Land")
  • Cyber-German Shepherd ("Interview with a Monkey")
  • Cyber-Hyena ("Enlil’s Wrath")
  • Cyber-Mandrill ("Framed")
  • Cyber-Polar Bear ("Blue Star")
  • Cyber-Pteranodon ("The Renewal")
  • Cyber-Rat 1 ("The Giant Claw Robberies")
  • Cyber-Rat 2 ("Billy")
  • Cyber-Saber Tooth ("Howling Jack")
  • Cyber-Spider Monkey ("The Invisible Threat")
  • Cyber-Stegosaurus ("Lies")
  • Cyber-Tarantula ("Dangerous Melody")
  • Cyber-Thorny Devil ("Sacred Songs")
  • Cyber-Triceratops 1 ("Howling Jack")
  • Cyber-Triceratops 2 ("The Renewal")
  • Cyber-Tyrannosaurus 1 ("Howling Jack")
  • Cyber-Tyrannosaurus 2 ("Hidden Fears")
  • Cyber-Wild Boar ("The Infinity Stone")
• Evil Kong ("The Renewal")
• Giant Kong Island alligator ("Dark Forces Rising")
• Giant one-eyed creature from Saturn ("Interview with a Monkey")
• Great Dragon ("Curse of the Dragon")
• Gryffin ("Night of the Talons")
• Ice Giant ("Twilight of the Gods")
• Jaguar God ("Master of Souls")
• Lava Men ("Chiros Child")
• Living Rock Monster ("Indian Summer")
• Locust Guardian / Swarm ("Indian Summer")
• Manticore ("The Infinity Stone")
• Mechanical Monster Suit ("Howling Jack")
• Mindcrawler ("Hidden Fears")
• Minotaur ("Welcome To Ramone's")
• Naga the Great Fire Cobra ("Cobra God")
• Nyssa/ Cyber-Nessie ("The Aquanauts")
• Oversized fly ("Hidden Fears")
• Pachycephalosaurus ("The Return, Part 2")
• Plesiosaur ("The Thirteenth Stone")
• Quetzalcoatl (Quetzalcoatl)
• Renaldo the Komodo Dragon / Cyber-Dragon ("Dragon Fire")
• Sea monster ("Dragon Fire")
• Servants of Set ("The Sleeping City")
• Set ("The Sleeping City")
• Slothbear / Cyber-Slothbear ("The Return, Part 2")
• Styracosaurus("The Return: Part 1")
• Velociraptors ("Reborn")
• Venus Flytrap ("Green Fear")
• Windigo ("Windigo")
• Woolly mammoth
• Yeti / Cyber-Yeti ("Top of the World")

Episodes

Season 1

1. "The Return: Part 1"
2. "The Return: Part 2"
3. "Primal Power"
4. "Dark Forces Rising"
5. "The Giant Claw Robberies"
6. "Dragon Fire"
7. "Mistress of the Game"
8. "Reborn"
9. "The Infinity Stone"
10. "Night of the Talons"
11. "Howling Jack"
12. "The Hidden Fears"
13. "The Sleeping City"
14. "Top of the World"
15. "Master of Souls"
16. "Billy"
17. "Enlil's Wrath"
18. "Indian Summer"
19. "Welcome to Ramone's"
20. "DNA Land"

Season 2

1. "Curse of the Dragon"
2. "Blue Star"
3. "Renewal"
4. "Chiros' Child"
5. "The Aquanauts"
6. "Cobra God"
7. "Windigo"
8. "Dangerous Melody"
9. "Green Fear"
10. "Twilight of the Gods"
11. "Framed"
12. "The Invisible Threat"
13. "Sir James Alex's Legacy"
14. "Lies"
15. "Sacred Songs"
16. "Apocalypse"
17. "Quetzalcoatl"
18. "Return to Redwoods"
19. "The Thirteenth Stone"
20. "Interview with a Monkey"

Films

Two direct-to-DVD animated films were made after this series ended, Kong: King of Atlantis in 2005 and Kong: Return to the Jungle in 2006. While the releases of these films coincide with the release of Universal Pictures' 2005 version of King Kong, Variety reported that a direct-to-video film was planned for the series as far back as 2000.

Video games

Two tie-in video games were created for the series, both for the Game Boy Advance. The first one, simply titled Kong: The Animated Series was released in 2002, while the second, Kong: King of Atlantis, was released in 2005 to tie in with the direct-to-DVD animated film of the same name.

Cast

• Scott McNeil - King Kong, Eric "Tann" Tannenbaum IV, Omar, Wu-Chan
• Kirby Morrow - Jason Jenkins, Frazetti, Rakhir
• Daphne Goldrick - Dr. Lorna Jenkins
• Kathy Morse - Dr. Lorna Jenkins
• Saffron Henderson - Lua
• David Kaye - Professor Ramon De La Porta
• Nicole Oliver - Tiger Lucy
• Paul Dobson - Chiros
• Pauline Newstone - Harpy
• Ron Halder - Andre

Gallery

• 

  The original title card

• 

  The second title card introduced in "The Infinity Stone"

• 

  A poster advertising the series

Videos

Main article: Kong: The Animated Series/Videos.

Trivia

• Kong: The Animated Series was created mainly to compete with the other popular contemporary giant monster cartoon at the time, Godzilla: The Series, and managed to stay on the air for the same number of episodes. Both series were ultimately cancelled due to their inability to compete with popular children's anime series such as Pokémon and Digimon.^{[citation needed]} However, Kong: The Animated Series did have reruns aired on Fox Kids long after its cancellation.
• Kong: The Animated Series is one of three animated series based on the character King Kong released so far, preceded by The King Kong Show from 1966 to 1969 and succeeded by Kong: King of the Apes from 2016 to 2018. The latter shares some connections with Kong: The Animated Series, due to its production company, 41 Entertainment, splitting off from BKN International. The show's opening theme is actually a remix of the opening from Kong: The Animated Series, and its lead writer, Sean Catherine Derek, wrote for the previous series. Both series also feature protagonists who have known Kong since childhood and frequently refer to him as their "bro." All three series feature similar premises, with a family befriending Kong and helping him fight other gigantic creatures as well as a villainous mad scientist.
• While Kong: The Animated Series is set within its own continuity unconnected to any previous media featuring Kong, it does allude to the original Kong's death in New York City. However, this version of the event seems to be a combination of the endings of the original 1933 film and its 1976 remake. Like in the original film, Kong died after falling from the Empire State Building, but like in the remake, he was killed by helicopters rather than airplanes as in the original.

References

This is a list of references for Kong: The Animated Series. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: ^[1]

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